Last week-end, I carried on further tests with the VFF (see part 1 and part 2 for introduction and previous tests).

Trial 6: Canoeing
On Saturday I went canoeing on the Wey River around Farncombe, Surrey (between Guildford and Godalming). I think this is one of the activity at which the VFF perform very well. They've got enough grip to handle wet surfaces and obviously you're not afraid to get them wet. Which means that you feel more free to mess around, jumping from one boat to another or to trees, walk in the water, climb ropes hanging around, ... Nothing to do with barefooting and gait correction, but comfortable and very good fun!

Trial 7: Climbing on sandstone
On Sunday I went climbing at Harrison's Rocks. I originally brought the VFF for approach walks as they're well suited for trail walking and are very light, which means less burden when clipped on the harness during climbing. But at some point I decided to try them on relatively easy routes. Because of their weak arch support (to say the least), they're not suited for edging and as discussed earlier, their grip is not worth my climbing shoes'. On sandstone however, where the grip is poor anyway and smearing is fundamental, they are actually usable for easy-ish warm up routes. Because they're more flexible (and comfortable) than conventional climbing shoes, they sometimes allow to push into the rock with a more optimal angle, counter-balancing their weaker grip.

Ultra thin soles 3